PROUD TO BE GREEN
Sustainability is a key focus at Brambletye and underpins the Strategic Direction of the school. Pupils and staff recognise the value and importance of engaging with ‘Green’ initiatives and sustainability. With our strong house system which fosters kindness to people and the planet, and the introduction of a Sustainability Prefect, pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their environment. Meanwhile our comprehensive Co-Curricular offering, provides timetabled sessions in which pupils engage with sustainability initiatives around the school site. Staff are constantly developing and evolving curriculum, incorporating environmental literature, whilst the school site is constantly being reviewed, modified and improved to ensure a lasting learning environment that befits our fantastic setting.
Eco-Code
Our Eco-Code, designed and created by our pupils in line with our school ethos, reminds us of the need to be sensitive and aware of our surroundings.
Current Projects
Eco-Schools Initiative - Green Flag Award
The Eco-Schools Initiative provides a framework for pupils to lead sustainability projects during their Co-Curricular session every Thursday. In 2024 we were awarded a ‘Green Flag’ in our first year and in 2025 we repeated this feat but with a ‘Distinction’, recognising our commitment and work towards creating a more sustainable school site. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 have been making a positive impact in the following areas:
Waste
Pupils interviewed our fantastic Head of Catering to identify all the actions being taken to tackle food waste. They understood the difficulties balancing healthy diets, portion sizes as well as great tasting food that appeals to everyone. No mean feat!
Energy
Using the school’s Rayleigh Smart Meter system, pupils investigated how energy consumption could be reduced. They identified wasted electricity from lighting and in electrical appliances. As a result, they took action to turn off unnecessary lights and designed posters to make pupils and staff aware of the importance of turning off electrical items when not in use. Look out for our ‘no energy day’ in the summer where we will aim to cut all but essential electricity consumption throughout the school day.
Marine
Pupils created their own ‘Artivism’ to highlight the issues with plastics and litter entering marine environments. At Brambletye we are extremely fortunate to have access to a lake. This incredible ecosystem will provide an array of environmental and educational benefits for the school and local community, serving as an amazing teaching resource to highlight the issues marine environments are facing.
Biodiversity
We are reviewing our cleaning products, to ensure they are ecologically friendly as well as creating wildlife habitats for insects. Our amazing gardeners work tirelessly to create areas to attract and encourage a range of pollinators. Our pupils have built bug hotels and we plan to broaden our wild flower areas to continue to ensure we support our smaller visitors.
RSPB - Big Schools' Bird Watch
Big Count
Pupils took part in the ‘Big Count’ sharing their results with the RSPB as part of their annual bird watch count.
Feeders
As a result of the survey of our local birds, we have designed and produced our own bird feeders to entice more of our native birds, particularly during the colder months.
Charitable Work
2024/2025
Pupils have been busy raising money in a number of ways for the School Charity: the Fundo Foundation. Having partnered with a school in Uganda, pupils have been creative and determined to make money to help install more water pumps and equipment for the site which operates where clean water is becoming increasingly harder to access regularly.
Partnerships - Zellar
Partnership with Zellar
Brambletye are proud to have partnered with Zellar to help calculate the total Scope 1, 2 and key Scope 3 emissions. Having set a highly ‘ambitious’ target of an annual reduction in emissions of 14%, and aiming to be Net Zero by 2040 there is a huge amount of positive work to look forward to.
Sussex Wildlife Trust Partnership
Ecology and biodiversity.
Future Work
Removing Single-Use Plastics from School
Brambletye believes in a future without the need for single-use plastics and are committed to removing these from our school site, as well as working within our supply chain to eliminate them.
Sustainable Suppliers
We recognise the need to use trusted, local and ethical companies in our supply chain and are working to improve in this area.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Our house-keeping department recognise the importance of their role in caring for the environment – that’s why they use SoluClean plastic free cleaning solutions – as well as other ingenious ideas to maintain a clean school in a environmentally conscious manner.
Waste Reduction
All types of waste are identified in our waste management plan, as well empowering our children and staff to reduce what we waste on site, whether it’s food, electricity or materials.
Past Work
Biodiversity
Building bug hotels and bird boxes have all helped with our biodiversity on site, but we are not stopping there!
Marine
Pupils were ingenious in using cardboard from packaging, destined to be recycled, to create their own pieces of ‘artivism’ in a bid to raise awareness of the use of single use plastics.
